Thursday, March 9, 2017

The reputation that your business has can make or break a business. All it takes is one comment online that can go viral. The internet has made it easier than ever to make unfounded an often untrue accusations about businesses and the people who own them. Here are some things that you may want to consider doing to protect the reputation of your business.

Never lose your cool with customers on social media forums. Even if you disagree with a customer, do not attack or act rudely towards the customer. Try to help the customer as best as you can and move on. Always act professionally since you do not want to create a bad reputation for your company.

Optimize your webpages with your crucial search phrase for a better online reputation. This is generally the name of your company. Search engines, like Google, tend to favor authoritativeness. Your site will gain more credibility if they view your business as official.

Try searching for your company online like your customers would. It is possible that doing searches on your computer may yield very different results than your potential customers. This may be due to your personalization options. Try turning off these options to get a better idea of your search engine results.

Personalize each of your responses. Avoid using templates for your responses. Instead, personally write each response as if you were talking to your customer face to face. Your customer will know if you are using templates and will feel as if you do not care about their opinions or business.

When you have a business, it is very important that you establish a process to handle reviews that are negative. Always respond to negative reviews properly and quickly; otherwise, your silence can come across as indifference. Also, it is just as important to acknowledge any positive reviews with appreciation and reinforcement.

Always remember that there is no way to please everyone. There are many business owners that get so discouraged when they get negative feedback that they allow it to mold the shape of their business. While it doesn't feel good to see negative things about you, do not allow it to get you down.

When you are creating a response to a negative review online, try your best not to mention the name of your company. The more that it is listed on the page, the more likely this will show up higher in search engine results, which is a huge blow to the reputation of your business.

Many sites post fake reviews all over the Internet, and your competitors may be doing this. Resist the temptation to join them. It's not only a business practice that's bad, but a lot of states have laws that make things like this against the law.

As you can see, a reputation can either build a business up or it can bring it down. That is why it is more important than ever to manage the reputation that your business has. So keep the above tips in mind and help protect the reputation of your business.